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He Built His Own Front 3 Pt Hitch
"I use my front-mount 3-pt. hitch to shave ridges while I plant, to spray herbicides, and to support a soybean rider. It works great," says Lyndon Hass, George, Iowa, who built the hitch 3 years ago and mounted it on his Deere 4440 tractor.
The Class II 3-pt. hitch is raised and lowered by a pair of 4 by 12 hydr
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He built his own front 3 pt hitch HITCHES Hitches 14-3-16 "I use my front-mount 3-pt. hitch to shave ridges while I plant, to spray herbicides, and to support a soybean rider. It works great," says Lyndon Hass, George, Iowa, who built the hitch 3 years ago and mounted it on his Deere 4440 tractor.
The Class II 3-pt. hitch is raised and lowered by a pair of 4 by 12 hydraulic cylinders.
"Most commercial front 3-pt. hitches are designed for light-duty use, but I designed my hitch for heavy-duty work," says Hass. "I use the hitch to push my 4-row Hiniker ridge shaving attachment while I plant with my Deere 7000 Max Emerge pull-type planter. The ridge shaving attachment was designed to be mounted on a planter, but I didn't want to mount it there because the planter already carries herbicide, fertilizer, and seed. Adding 2,000 lbs. of ridge shaving units would have been too much. Also, the spring-loaded ridge shaving units push down on the soil and up on the planter which results in less precise control of seed depth and placement. They work better on a 3-pt. planter, but I didn't want to spend the money for one. Front-mounting the ridge shavers lets me keep the planter I already own and increases visibility so I can do a better job."
The hitch also supports a 4-man soybean rider and a 3-pt. sprayer that he uses to spot-spray weeds. Last year he tried using the hitch to push a 4-row Buffalo rigid cultivator, moving its 3-pt. hitch from the front to the rear. However, in hard soil the cultivator tended to roll to the side and plow out plants. "I need to use a cultivator that I can mount closer to the front wheels for better control," says Hass.
The hitch is built from steel tubing and bolted to the tractor at 6 points. Hass welded several eyelets to the hitch frame so he can adjust load lifting capacity and implement configurations. "The one thing I'd change would be to use slightly longer hydraulic cylinders for greater range when raising and lowering the hitch," says Hass.
He spent $150 to build the hitch. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Lyndon Hass, Rt. 2, P.O. Box 73, George, Iowa 51246 (ph 712 475-3817).
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